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The 47th Influencer

The Donald Trump influence on Fashion and Masculinity will be felt in the fashion industry.  Professionals should not underestimate the influence of a President’s outlook on style.  John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, the President went hatless on a cold January day, that styling decision placed a once accessory staple to the back of the men’s closet for a generation.  Men dropped the headwear.   Of course, his First Lady who needs no introduction, Jackie, is a timeless fashion icon.    

This election could mark an unexpected shift in many ways. People turned away from mass media for opinions.  Mainstream channels took a credibility hit.   Not only did they get it wrong by a September Issue Size Vogue issue, television commentators could not hide the disbelief on live television.   The fashion press misread voter sentiments, publications placed a bet on the wrong horse, then lost. What does that say about their insight?  No amount of deflection or no comments can cover up the scale of this pubic misread.  After putting Kamala Harris on numerous covers, no one expects Head Editor in charge Anna Wintour to have a public make up phone call to Melania Trump. 

Elle
Elle

Creative directors will need a rethink over the next months and years.  Since the term “gender” became a political toxin, consumers may move away from gender free fashion, out of style.  Sure, the houses can produce it. Who will buy the collections outside of four stores in NYC and SF? The marketing and messaging will take a different course.  Companies are ditching DEI initiatives faster than a Shein can copy a runway look.  Bottom line decisions trump social movements in boardrooms.   The 47th Unites States leader’s 75 million voters are too big a market to ignore.   

There could be a silver lining, style hope.   Brands could become counter reactionary, more underground.  The Gap was born in the counter culture of San Francisco.  The Mini Skirt shock off the feminine rigidity of the fifties.

The 47th head of the United States will leave an imprint on the way we dress, like or not. 

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An Empire Implodes

I would like to say the images of the seize of Capital Hill Washington DC shocked me. In some way “yes” in some ways “no”. Coming from the American South, traditionally, Whites enforced their wills by storming State and County Houses to enforce Jim Crow laws or worse, for lynchings.

The United States has been on an implosion trajectory for decades. The level of despair, inequality, wars and Covid 19 running wild in a country that failed to looked after its citizens. This dry grass needed a spark. Trump unpacked his flame thrower.

19thcentury painter Thomas Cole painting series “America” shows a proud land similar in mentality of the Roman Empire. All empires fall, Rome’s was brutal. Did the curtain on the American Empire come down on January 6th? Certainly for the “Exceptionalism Theory”, history proves the US will not be an exception. 

The governing class got a taste of what could come. Social Media images of protesters taking the building with little police opposition made world wide headlines. Who can forget the picture from Speaker Pelosi’s desk? The shirtless horned hat man has become an international celebrity. Expect media deals after the FBI gets finished with him.

As For The Democrats and Republicans

Could the GOP be repentant after years of deciding only they can govern? After seeing some tepid condemnations and a fiery speech by one House of Rep member. My hopes were dashed. Donald’s 76 million voters made clear they are force to be reckoned. The disciples are waiting for a new leader.

As for the so called “opposition”. Democrats are in the clouds looking for corporate parachutes after “public service”.

Cole witnessed the enthusiasm mixed with arrogance of a newly confident country challenging old world European Empires. The English born artist painted “Consummation” . Meaning consumption and prosperity of a Wealthy Empire. “Destruction”, the forth in “The Course of Empire” series paints a scene of violence, an empire dying. The guy had insight 170 years ahead of his time.

Complaceny was a victim yesterday on the steps of the Capital. Heed the visions from past. Empires implode.